With the police busy on election duty across Canacona taluka, burglars broke into a jewellery shop at the Chaudi market and stole jewellery worth about Rs 1 lakh late Tuesday night.
The goldsmith Sanjay Vernekar said he would hardly keep much jewellery in the shop overnight and would only bring the ordered items in the shop on the day of delivery.
Vernekar informed that the value of the silver items and 1 gram of gold found missing from the shop could be around Rs 1 lakh.
Canacona PI Chandrakant Gawas said the investigation was taken up immediately after the incident was reported early Wednesday morning.
When asked if the police beat teams were not on duty on Tuesday night, Gawas said, “Though most police officials were deputed on election duty, the beat teams have been keeping a close eye in villages going to polls on Wednesday. The regular beat police teams may have remained away from Chaudi town for some hours past midnight.”
“Though no clue has come to light, an investigation has been launched and we are confident of nabbing the culprits,” said PI Gawas.
Many in the business fraternity have, however, expressed concern that the lack of police beat teams in the commercial town of Chaudi may have emboldened burglars to target the jewellery shop.
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